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EU Displeased with Russia's Position on Missile Defense
Russia should not interfere in negotiations on the installation of a ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stated. "Any sovereign state of the European Union has the right to establish security arrangements with others,” he said.
Barroso also expressed “disappointment” at Russia's plans to place a moratorium on implementation of the Conventional Forces Treaty. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that moratorium during his annual address to the Federal Assembly on April 26. He said the moratorium would remain in force until all NATO members ratified the treaty and implemented it. The Russian president expressed confidence that both houses of the Russian Federal Assembly would support the moratorium.
Putin stated that NATO was using the treaty to place bases on Russia's border, and the United States was going to place a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Moreover, new NATO members, such as the Baltic countries and Slovakia, were not joining the treaty, is spite of preliminary agreements made with NATO. Russia, meanwhile, has continued to fulfill the obligations of the treaty, in spite of the situation in Chechnya.
Later, at a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Putin said that “the threat from the placement of U.S. antiballistic defense elements in Europe is equivalent to the threat from the placement of Pershing missiles.”
www.kommersant.com
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